On behalf of the Idaho Conservation League and Earthworks, we are filing the attached objection of the Draft Record of Decision, Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Thompson Creek Mine FEIS. Since 1973, the Idaho Conservation League has been Idaho’s voice for clean water, clean air and wilderness—values that are the foundation for Idaho’s extraordinary quality of life. The Idaho Conservation League works to protect these values through public education, outreach, advocacy and policy development. As Idaho's largest state-based conservation organization, we represent over 25,000 supporters who have deep personal interest in ensuring that mineral exploration and development activities incorporate the required measures to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts to forest resources, including water quality, sensitive plants and wildlife.
Earthworks is a national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment against the adverse impacts of mineral development. Earthworks has a long history of engaging in hardrock mining issues in Idaho and on federal public lands nation-wide, and we seek to promote responsible mining practices that protect public health, fish, wildlife, and clean water.
We appreciate the opportunity to use the objection process to provide additional comments before a final decision is issued. We also appreciate having had the opportunity to discuss the project with representatives of the Forest Service, BLM and Thompson Creek Mine. This additional information about the project record has helped us gain a better understanding of the project and has addressed several of our concerns. However, we still have significant concerns on several substantive issues, as outlined in the objection below.
Consistent with other objection resolution processes that we have participated in, we look forward to discussing our comments and suggested remedies. Our objection is below. Feel free to contact us at your convenience on next steps.
